Dianna Molzan

…and five, six, seven, eight

Kaufmann Repetto
55 Walker Street
New York
Tribeca
Mar 12th 2021 — Apr 17th 2021

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In Dianna Molzan’s latest show at Kaufmann Repetto, doors and mirrors function as symbols of theater as well as objects with practical use.

Conceptualizing them as signifiers of day-to-day life and everyday culture, as well as tropes of the stage, Molzan’s experimental use of doors and mirrors both fictionalizes and makes real the articles of everyday life and theatrical performance. Her work acknowledges the lasting functionality of each item despite the development of concurrent technologies that have transformed daily life.

Molzan presents three doors constructed of hanging threads [one pictured], each positioned so that the viewer makes an active choice of which to approach: a rotating kitchen door, a wooden panel, and a colonial American style door. In the same vein, her use of mirrors brings to mind the familiar images of electric-lit backstage mirrors, which Molzan regards as both a cultural object and a formal geometric abstraction. By imposing a color field in the center where the viewer’s reflection would be, the work instead offers a different moment of self-reflection.

Dianna Molzan, Untitled, 2021. Oil on canvas on poplar, 41 x 19.5 x 1.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist and kaufmann repetto Milan / New York. Photo: Greg Carideo.